A question that is often posed to me is, ‘But, what kind of history do you do?’ I used to not have an answer to that question, because I don’t have a specific area that I am particularly enthralled with. However, when I got that question the other day, my friend piped up and answered if for me, ‘You do, like, history around here, right? Like, local history.’ Finally, it was put into words. Over the past few years every time I’ve gone to study in a new place, I immediately throw myself into learning about the history of that location and here in Egham it’s no different. My Skills project last term was on life in Surrey in the Edwardian period based on postcards and the programme I am making for ‘The Public Communication’ is on the ‘hidden’ history of Royal Holloway. I thus want to continue in this tradition and learn about why Royal Holloway College and Bedford College went co-ed in the 1960s. I would like to explore the ‘death’ of women-only education in those two institutions and perhaps across Britain.

I come from a place that is known for its higher education institutions. When I describe where I’m from, I’ll say Western Mass, you know, the Five College Area? UMass Amherst, maybe? UMass is usually the landmark people identify with, but of the other four schools of the ‘Five Colleges’, two of them are well-known female only institutions: Mount Holyoke College and Smith College. Both of these schools take great pride in being just for women (for undergrad, at least) and strive to stay that way. Interestingly enough when I was applying to schools for my undergrad degree, three of the four schools I applied to where originally female only: Endicott College, Lesley University, and Lasell College. I chose to go to Lasell, where I learned that they didn’t go co-ed until the late 1990s. Coming from that background, I am particularly interested in why Royal Holloway and Bedford went co-ed so early compared to schools in the United States.

I hope to interview Professor Caroline Barron, a former History professor of both Bedford College and Royal Holloway Bedford New College. She also recommended that I get in touch with Dr John Prebble who was vice-principal of Bedford at the time of the merger of the two schools in 1985 and to look at the book Bedford College, University of London edited by J Mordaunt Crook.

The significance of this topic to public oral history will be that it will explore how the dynamic changed in higher education from just having females on campus to having both sexes. Both Bedford and Royal Holloway were founded to provide women with an education equal to that of men, so why was it that they then let men join them? As the topic is still within living memory and also coincides with the greater movement for women’s rights, I would like to understand how going co-ed changed the legacies of both schools.

I kept thinking how I can put my interview into some kind of context. I am still struggling with this problem; however I realized that the topic of immigration is the most prominent one.

I am going to interview a man who is working here in London as a doctor. He was born in Syria and at some point he came to Greece. Interestingly enough, he is an Orthodox Christian, as most Greeks are; essentially the topic of religion ties up perfectly with immigration in this case. And because of his faith he found himself into some kind of church’s boarding house back in Athens; my godmother works there voluntarily and that is how I came to know him. However, I do not know anything more about him.

Andreas speaks Greek fluently so I am going to interview him in Greek. Since we both are immigrants in London, which is a huge metropolitan city, it would be interesting to speak about life in London. I want to know how he copes with the fact that he cannot go back to Syria because of the ongoing war and how his nationality influences his whole life here in London. Actually I would like to know how he approaches the whole subject of this mixture of religions and conflicting identities (Syrian, Greek and British alike). I think that we will have a very interesting discussion about racism as well.

Everything will be set under the vast umbrella-term of ‘immigration’. But most importantly, my interview will be a life story of a man who is not ‘old’ –actually he just married a woman from Egypt– but has already a very interesting background and surely some rich experiences and memories.

For my oral history interview I am planning on interviewing an individual from the Cypriot community in London. I have contacted the ‘Parikiaki’ which is the leading Greek Cypriot newspaper in London. The newspaper itself was established in 1974 which was also the time a lot of Cypriots had arrived to the UK due to the Turkish invasion that took place in Cyprus in the year. A small number of Cypriots had already been living in the UK beforehand, however from the 1950′s onwards was when a community was beginning to be formed, the contrast is great between the community in the 50′s and today. I am very much interested in hearing (if possible) first hand accounts of moving to the UK, what life was like then; being away from home where an invasion was taking place, being in a foreign country where everything was unknown, even the language; and how it has changed to modern day, how the community grew and what factors were used to keep a collective spirit- such as the newspaper, the churches, Greek schools etc. Therefore, I will be focusing on the social and cultural side of the community hopefully through a person’s first hand account.
I am awaiting a reply from the ‘Parikiaki’, hopefully either allowing me to interview someone that works (and has worked for a long period of time) on the newspaper that would be able to highlight the growth of the community or even getting me in touch with someone that would be willing to participate. If this is unsuccessful, for whatever reason, I do know Cypriots in London so I am prepared to ask them if needed, as a life story interview would also be of interest to me and could easily be placed in the larger context of events taking place in the UK and the Cypriot community at the time (though I am aware that it would be preferable if they understood and spoke English).